A MAJOR DISCONNECT

Many times in life
There are times of strife
We try to understand why
Things are the way they are
It is about money and also about power
About who's the boss and how much dough one can shower
Status and name and claim to fame
Some day will drive us all insane
A disconnect between our wants and our needs
We all are checkers on a board game
But ultimately we are all Human
And we are all the SAME.

Written on 3rd February 2012, Haridwar

Beta, What's your Age?

To all those guys/ girls who are of..... :)
It was 1:30 am on 30th Jan morning and i was itching to write all day long the previous day. Infact, i had been day dreaming about writing a post since my trip to Chandigarh even though the trip was just an overnight stay. I did make a few friends there. :) :)
The actual inspiration for this post is Wedding Ceremonies, technically speaking "Receptions". The thought process sparked off as we attended the Maharashtrian Style reception of a close friend's brother. I have attended quite a few ceremonies from Oct 2011 - Jan 2012. The one you attend with friends is all fun and games but the ones you attend with parents is a different ballgame in itself.

Typical things that you could generally observe:
1. Close relatives come to you and ask you what you are doing career wise. Exclaim in fake disbelief when you say you are working followed with a "OH! I met you when you were a baby. Look how big you've become."
2. They quickly proceed to ask the all important question about your age and won't stop themselves from taking a gibe at you by saying -YOU are next in line to get married with the sarcastic smile plastered on their face. :p
3.Overtly concerned extended family then immediately divert their attention to one's parents and repeat your age and say: "He/ She is -- years old, time to get him/her married". The smile still in place without moving a millimeter.

I have been through this a couple of times and each time my answer has been pretty much the same thing worded differently. Mostly, i try to humour the goodnatured familee and then try to diplomatically change the topic. Many a times i fall short of words or just look around embarrassed with and SOS expression and then dad steps in. I remember he recently said.."Marriage, for her is a WIP that hasn't started yet :) :) " Oh, what would i do without my daddy dearest around to save the day?
Moms on the other hand might actually start looking for suitors... *Yikes*

I have nothing against weddings per se. They are out and out fun for everyone except the parents of the bride and groom who are worrying about every tiny detail. One thing i would never understand is the joy that extended families get in wanting to set you up with someone... I mean WHY??? Why should boys have all the fun while the poor girl who happens to catch the bouquet is deemed as the next bride to be? Wow, i'd never survive that nightmare. :)

It is not like i am against the whole marriage business. I am sure Shaadi.Com and the rest are very profitable but i am  also sure, I, for one have a long long way to go. So aunties and uncles i do hope you read this before we meet at the next wedding and the above ensues. Before yet another time when you go, "Beta, What's your age?" I know why you are asking this and i am sure my answer won't change, at least for sometime.
Like the famous Robert Frost's Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, i would say "and miles to go before i leap and miles to go before i leap".

This one is dedicated to all my friends of ...marriageable age ;) ;) I am pretty sure you have been through this before.

Special thanks to K whose conversation about a wardrobe change into Indian attire was hilarious. Of course, i didn't mean to eavesdrop and tried hard to concentrate on the book in front of me but your conversation was more entertaining than the conspiracy of Don Corleone's cronies :)

This post was penned 1:30 AM to 1:50 AM 30th Jan
Published at 6:26 AM ( when i was Sleepless in a Hotel room of a quaint little town in India, since sleep keeps itself from me i'd just wait to watch the sun rise.... )

Thanksgiving

It is the 1st of January 2012. Looking back i am thankful for a lot of things. A lot of new people who have entered my life and this has mostly to do with people i know from office - both Reliance and HUL.
I feel truly blessed to have met colleagues who not only are Colleagues but also double up as friends. This i discovered on our Team Outbound to Goa. It was the most amazing experience of having people whom i understood on some weird frequency.

On a not so regular working day30th Dec, we decided to go out and have a blast. We went to one of the famous Cafes at Colaba and chilled, talking our random nonsensical crap but enjoying nevertheless. This was followed by us going to Marine Drive and sitting enjoying the breeze. The outing was fun apart from the fact that  one of us had a broken chappal and me having to lend my rubber band to fix it and also having my jeans ripped near the pocket.
 Sacrifices that one makes in order to have great memories.

Then i returned home only to join my school gang for dinner :) I love my group to the core. It's like i can't live with or without them. There are days when i get totally mad at them but i still love them enough :) 

As i look towards the future, i thank the Lord for my parents, a lot of strangers who are now my friends, my job and i do hope that i could do whatever it is big or small to help someone else's life become a little bit better. I wish to spread more smiles around, i resolve to do things to make it happen!

Ask me to Sing and I' ll ....Croak

21st October: A day to go into the History Book of my Life.

Reason: First Outing with my new Colleagues- Team Event

It started out on a sadistic note when the organizers announced that we wouldn't be going and we sure were disheartened but all that faded the moment we got into the bus that was supposed to take us to our destination.

I felt the extra energy that was hiding in me rush back in matter of moments. All the energy i was saving up for a good few months, i think i spent in matter of hours last evening. We played Paintball- something i 've always wanted to do. Amazing Race - something i have helped organize and thus lost out on participating in. So i was Happy and THEN all of a sudden - we were offered a GOLA treat.... Music to my ears.... More Smiles :) :)

Finally, we got to the place where dinner was organised and all of us Newbies were asked to SING. I was shocked! Sing? Did i hear that right? Eekz... i shrieked out loud inside my soul. Why would anyone want to hear me sing, i mean seriously. Then on i was conscious of every move i made, every letter i uttered.This is what happens to me everytime i go to parties or weddings or social gatherings. People ask you to entertain them and all of a sudden you become so aware of everyone staring at you that it just makes you very very uncomfortable for that time, till they divert their attention to another uninitiated.Has happened with me every single time but turn on the music in the car or have the music playing and you will catch me singing along every time without even paying much attention to who is around.

So for that moment I even tried to hide below the table but to no avail because the moment someone asks you to sing - you tend to forget that you know any songs at all. Trust me, i thought i would get it done with and not make too much of a fuss but i couldn't remember ONE song, it was as if all the songs just faded from my memory. Those that i listen to often as well. Then they started Antakshari - where i was put in an All Mens team - barring me of course. It was good fun and suddenly a letter came to our team to sing with and since i knew it - i started and midway i realised i was the only one singing... i mean Croaking. I am not good at many things. Singing is one of those.

THE END

Dil Se Dilli ho Dhadkan se Ho London

Well, i love listening to the radio on my train journeys to work and back. Yes, i would love to have an amazing collection of songs on my Memory Card but i am too lazy to add new songs and so invariably my fingers find the radio mode. I listen to 107.1 FM AIR RAINBOW in the mornings and in the evenings it is any one of the 24*7 Hindi Music Radio Stations.

So on a late evening like today, i was sitting there trying to avoid overhearing a group of girls discussing their itinerary for their GOA trip. It brought back memories of my trip with my girl friends too. I was browsing through stations but couldn't really pay attention to the music because of the Loud Conversation of those three girls. Of course, their conversation did make me smile and i eavesdropped not intentionally but by virtue of just being two seats away.

The point of this post though is something totally different. It is how music has evolved over time, especially that of Indian Cinema. There was a time when the male lead would sing songs like: Chaudhavin ka Chaand Ho ya Aftab Ho? Jo bhi ho, Khuda Ki Kasam, Lajawab ho... to woo the female lead in the movie.

We are essentially in the day and age when women are more or less equally involved in wooing a guy actively and so a "Wanna be my Chammak Challo" is replied with an equally bold " Munni" who is getting a bad name or a "Sheila" who talks of her jawani. Gone are the days of subtlety, no one has the time or patience for it. We want everything"Right Here, Right Now" now and we don't talk in riddles. Sex is sex and they don't show two flowers coming together anymore.

This post actually started out with quite something else in mind -a song for finding a Dulhan for somone in the family was the agenda. Only finding a song from the era gone by is difficult and i couldn't find one. The idea came from the title track of the movie Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. Sure the lyrics of most songs now a days hardly make any sense but this song has everything from Fashion to Geography, from Attitude to Technology all summed up. I actually shouldn't be surprised because songs like "Dum Maaro Dum" (the new one)
Oonche se Ooncha Banda, Potty pe baithe nanga type lyrics have actually done quite well or seem to be due to the sheer number of times it is aired on the radio.
Without futher ado - i will post the lines that caught my attention while listening Mohabbat ki ho woh Google
Jo dede har question ka hal
Nazar ke ek hi click se (soniye)
Walk pe sunti ho gaane
Brother ko khush karna jaane
Jo sabke dil mein dua si basse
Model ho world best par mitti ho Indian
Dhoondu mein dhoondu, mere brother ki dulhan
Dil se Dilli ho woh dhadkan se ho London
Dhoondu mein dhoondu, mere brother ki dulhan
Matrimonial si aankhein, sabko ab taake jhaakein
Matrimonial si aankhein, dhoondhe re chehre baanke

Kaam mein jo na ho lazy
Ho jis mein 3G ki tezzi
Aur ho chhok si adaa (soniye)
Relation samjhe jo ladki, rahe na ego mein badki
Jo laaye good luck hi good luck sadaa
Hai toh responsibility, phir bhi iss mein fun

It sure is a fun song which can make anyone smile just by listening to the lyrics closely. The qualities asked for in this song do put a lot of pressure on the girl who is expected to look like a Super Model but be the Laadli, Responsible, Loved, Respected and Caring Bahu as well. Not a mean feat you think huh? I can't think of any song where a girl is asking for so many qualities in a man. I am sure there might be a song or two of this kind but at 1:41 AM i don't expect my brain to work with 3G ki Tezzi.

Just hoping you guys do listen to the song, enjoy it and well, just wonder what happened to Gulzar's lyrics or his reaction to these songs.The song has been written by Irshad Kamil who has also penned some of my personal other favourite songs but i have never come across one that said... Dil se Dilli ho, Dhadkan se ho London..Dhundu main dhundu mere brother ki dulhan.
Mere brother Ki Dulhan Video

Ladies Compartment IInd Class

The second class ladies compartment is the most entertaining way to travel. Not everyone will be as amused but trust me if you do observe it in a detached manner you will find more than just a few instances that will make you laugh.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT TRYING TO TRIVIALIZE ISSUES. Just wanting to make people see the funnier side of life and if not that then just the gory reality of it.

1. THE GANGWAY is the way! The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end- and hence, a lot of people (women) decide to just stand there even if the have to alight after another FIVE stations.

2. Push and Shove, elbow and bellow is the best way to get in or get out. Or so they think. Imagine if everyone went about their commute in an orderly fashion. Things would be easier, lesser people would be injured and the travel would be more pleasant.

3. It is a great place for women to knit, clean veggies and do some shopping on the go. You get everything here from Umbrella shaped mechanical pencils, mini hot water bags, accessories of all sorts, colouring books, stickers, combs, kitchen wares and eatables.

4. If you have noticed an argument in the compartment- refer #2 it starts with a push or a shove. The belligerent victim starts a verbal abuse of sorts and then starts explaining the situation to co passengers and including them into the fight. After that it becomes a jugalbandi when both the sides try to one up each other.

5. A baby in the compartment is a play toy for those around but the same baby if crying becomes a nuisance. When the baby smiles everyone wants to hold it but no one wants to comfort a crying baby.

6. People love to eat on the train... and then throw peels/ plastic bags/ any residue or remains out of the window. Now, i don't blame the uneducated but what about those who have a swanky mobile phone, seem to be from educated families and wear top class clothes and behave like.... This happens most often when the train crosses over some creek, out comes everyone's used garlands and other stuff the holy books say must be discarded only in water. Not trying to hurt religious sentiments but there are other ways to dispose.

7. The fourth seat is God send. Hell yeah! It sure is. Doesn't matter if less than half your butt fits on the edge of the seat and despite you almost slipping from on there you still hang on it for dear life cause your feet are killing you.

8. I have been travelling by trains for quite a while now but somehow i don't get used to the fact that people ask you "Where are you going to get off?" even before you sat on the seat that just got vacant. I know i have mentioned it in an earlier post but couldn't help it.

9. We turn a blind eye to the disparity among us. Yes, we do it and we say there is nothing we can do about it. I have seen more than a few times - women with children who aren't exactly normal trying to fight the unforgiving crowd and standing their way through while most others just choose to ignore. Giving your seat up (at least then) seems like a noble thing to do. Then there are the Seat Gangsters that reserve seats for their friends and pick fights if someone tries to reason it out.

10. Finally, the one thing i cannot afford to miss out. The advertisements stuck all over the train compartments - all compartments alike... There was this one that said "Love, Sex, Friendship, Call some number and some smarty pants had put an arrow below it and wrote DON'T CALL! :)

We Mumbaikars spend most of our waking hours on the train and thus they form an important part of our journey. Journey to work in the Journey of Life.

THE DEATH OF SIMPLICITY

Sometimes the answer is not in the complex,
Neither it is in the difficult.
We think and talk and try,
We fail and then we cry,
Baffled, we wonder why?

But- we fail to realize that
The answer is in the question
It is in something so obvious and evident
The answer is right before us
We just choose to not see it and turn a blind eye
Because Simplicity is Unfathomable.

Thus occurs the death of Simplicity.